Sleep-spindles as a marker of attention and intelligence in dogs

The sleep spindle-generating thalamo-cortical circuitry supports attention capacity in awake humans and animals, but using sleep spindles to predict differences in attention has not been tried in either. Of the more commonly examined cognitive correlates of spindle occurrence and amplitude, post-sle...

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Main Authors: Ivaylo Borislavov Iotchev, Dóra Szabó, Borbála Turcsán, Zsófia Bognár, Eniko Kubinyi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:NeuroImage
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811924004130
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author Ivaylo Borislavov Iotchev
Dóra Szabó
Borbála Turcsán
Zsófia Bognár
Eniko Kubinyi
author_facet Ivaylo Borislavov Iotchev
Dóra Szabó
Borbála Turcsán
Zsófia Bognár
Eniko Kubinyi
author_sort Ivaylo Borislavov Iotchev
collection DOAJ
description The sleep spindle-generating thalamo-cortical circuitry supports attention capacity in awake humans and animals, but using sleep spindles to predict differences in attention has not been tried in either. Of the more commonly examined cognitive correlates of spindle occurrence and amplitude, post-sleep recall, and general intelligence, only post-sleep recall had been studied in dogs, rats and mice. Here, we examined a sample of companion dogs (N = 58) for whom polysomnographic recordings and several cognitive tests were performed on two occasions each, with a three-month break in-between. Five of the tests were used to extract a factor analogous to human g (general mental ability). A sixth test in the battery measured sustained attention. Both attention and g-factor scores were linked to higher slow spindle occurrence and absolute sigma power detected in polysomnographic recordings over the central electrode. These effects persisted across measurement occasions. Higher intrinsic spindle frequency was, in turn, linked to lower g-factor scores but displayed no relationship with attention scores. The overlap in localization and direction for the effects of slow spindle density (spindles/minute) and sigma power supports that they tap into the same underlying cognition-relevant aspects of spindling. Given earlier large sample and meta-analysis validations of sigma power as a reliable predictor of cognitive performance in humans, we thus conclude that the currently handled method for quantifying spindle density in dogs indeed measures cognition-relevant spindle activity by virtue of its agreement with the sigma power alternative.
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spelling doaj-art-1300ff98811f4ad7b9c91d5e71153e242024-11-29T06:22:58ZengElsevierNeuroImage1095-95722024-12-01303120916Sleep-spindles as a marker of attention and intelligence in dogsIvaylo Borislavov Iotchev0Dóra Szabó1Borbála Turcsán2Zsófia Bognár3Eniko Kubinyi4Department of Ethology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/c, Budapest 1117, Hungary; Corresponding author.Department of Ethology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/c, Budapest 1117, HungaryDepartment of Ethology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/c, Budapest 1117, Hungary; MTA-ELTE, Lendület “Momentum” Companion Animal Research Group, Budapest 1117, HungaryDepartment of Ethology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/c, Budapest 1117, Hungary; MTA-ELTE, Lendület “Momentum” Companion Animal Research Group, Budapest 1117, HungaryDepartment of Ethology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/c, Budapest 1117, Hungary; MTA-ELTE, Lendület “Momentum” Companion Animal Research Group, Budapest 1117, Hungary; ELTE NAP Canine Brain Research Group, Budapest, HungaryThe sleep spindle-generating thalamo-cortical circuitry supports attention capacity in awake humans and animals, but using sleep spindles to predict differences in attention has not been tried in either. Of the more commonly examined cognitive correlates of spindle occurrence and amplitude, post-sleep recall, and general intelligence, only post-sleep recall had been studied in dogs, rats and mice. Here, we examined a sample of companion dogs (N = 58) for whom polysomnographic recordings and several cognitive tests were performed on two occasions each, with a three-month break in-between. Five of the tests were used to extract a factor analogous to human g (general mental ability). A sixth test in the battery measured sustained attention. Both attention and g-factor scores were linked to higher slow spindle occurrence and absolute sigma power detected in polysomnographic recordings over the central electrode. These effects persisted across measurement occasions. Higher intrinsic spindle frequency was, in turn, linked to lower g-factor scores but displayed no relationship with attention scores. The overlap in localization and direction for the effects of slow spindle density (spindles/minute) and sigma power supports that they tap into the same underlying cognition-relevant aspects of spindling. Given earlier large sample and meta-analysis validations of sigma power as a reliable predictor of cognitive performance in humans, we thus conclude that the currently handled method for quantifying spindle density in dogs indeed measures cognition-relevant spindle activity by virtue of its agreement with the sigma power alternative.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811924004130Sleep spindlesSigma powerAttentionIntelligenceDogs
spellingShingle Ivaylo Borislavov Iotchev
Dóra Szabó
Borbála Turcsán
Zsófia Bognár
Eniko Kubinyi
Sleep-spindles as a marker of attention and intelligence in dogs
NeuroImage
Sleep spindles
Sigma power
Attention
Intelligence
Dogs
title Sleep-spindles as a marker of attention and intelligence in dogs
title_full Sleep-spindles as a marker of attention and intelligence in dogs
title_fullStr Sleep-spindles as a marker of attention and intelligence in dogs
title_full_unstemmed Sleep-spindles as a marker of attention and intelligence in dogs
title_short Sleep-spindles as a marker of attention and intelligence in dogs
title_sort sleep spindles as a marker of attention and intelligence in dogs
topic Sleep spindles
Sigma power
Attention
Intelligence
Dogs
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811924004130
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